The Brutalist Director Says Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' 'Performances Are Completely Their Own' After Facing AI Backlash

The work of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in the Brutalist is “entirely theirs,” says the film’s director, despite the use of AI-powered technology in their performances.

Following a January 11 interview with RedShark News Brutalist by editor Dávid Jancsó, who revealed that the stars’ Hungarian dialogue had been smoothed out in post-production with speech synthesis software Respeecher, was followed by an outcry over the controversial technology on social media.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, award-nominated director and co-writer Brady Corbet defended the decision to modify Brody and Jones’ Hungarian dialogue “specifically to improve the accuracy of certain vowels and letters… The goal was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performance in another language, without substitution or modification and performed with the utmost respect for the craft.”

Corbet, 36, said: “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They spent months working with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents… Brutalist is a film about human complexity, and every aspect of its creation is driven by human effort, creativity and collaboration. We are incredibly proud of our team and what they have achieved here.”

Brady Corbet January 17th.

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Jancsó, 42, a native Hungarian speaker, said in an interview with RedShark News that in “most” of Brody and Jones’ “Hungarian dialogue, there’s a part of me that speaks.” Using Respeecher was a means of speeding up the post-production process, he added.

“It’s controversial in the industry to talk about artificial intelligence, but it shouldn’t be,” Jancsó said. “We should have a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us. There’s nothing in a movie that uses artificial intelligence that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster.”

Ukraine-based company Respeecher also used AI-driven technology for Disney+ to recapture the voice of the late James Earl Jones in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi and the voice of a young Mark Hamill The Mandalorian and The Boba Fett book.

(L-R:) Stacy Martin, Brady Corbet, Felicity Jones, Adrien Brody, Mona Fastvold, Raffey Cassidy and Guy Pearce on January 15.

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AI technology is becoming common practice in the post-production process, according to The Guardian. It has also been used to increase vocal range Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascón. Re-recording mixer for Jacques Audiard’s award-winning film Cyril Holtz said in an interview at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival that the actress’ singing was mixed with that of composer Camille.

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Brutalist and Emilia Perez were among the winners at this year’s Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 3, and are also in the running for the upcoming Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Awards.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education